Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition Review

Table of Contents

Introduction, Design & Features

[Editors' Note: Be aware that pricing and features for video cards based on a given graphics chip can vary, depending on the actual card maker. AMD and Nvidia make video "reference cards" based on their graphics processors, which they often send out for review. Third-party partners—MSI, Sapphire, Gigabyte, EVGA, Asus, and many others—make and sell cards that often adhere closely to the design of these reference boards (“stock boards”), as well as versions with slight differences in port configuration, clocking, the amount and speed of onboard memory, and the cooling fans or heat sinks installed. Be sure the specs and ports/connections on any "partner" board you're looking at match what we've reviewed before making any assumptions. Here, we're reviewing Nvidia's Founders Edition version of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, which is roughly equivalent to a reference board but will also be sold in Founders Edition trim.]

Over the years, Nvidia has settled into a now-predictable pattern with its graphics-card launches. First, it launches a midsize chip aimed at the top of the current market, and that chip is dubbed "GeForce GTX x80." (This would be, through the years, the GeForce GTX 680, the GeForce GTX 780, the GeForce GTX 980, and most recently the GeForce GTX 1080.) After that top card rocks the market for a bit, and AMD responds with a competing card, Nvidia launches a graphics card with a chip that is usually almost twice as large—named some form of "Titan."

Also according to the formula: The Titan represents the pinnacle of its current architecture, and it is wildly expensive, typically costing $1,000 or more. Being cards designed to bridge professional graphics solutions and PC gaming, the various Titans have certainly been superb gaming cards, but too expensive for most gamers and packing features gamers don’t need. So, the next step in the formula: Nvidia then takes the Titan, clips its wings a little bit, and rebrands it as the "GeForce GTX x80 Ti" chip, making it essentially the best possible Nvidia gaming card for the company's current architecture.

So, here in March 2017, history repeats. Such is the case with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. It’s the exact same graphics processor at heart as the current Nvidia Titan X Pascal card (the 2016 model based on current "Pascal" architecture), but made for gamers and offered at a substantially reduced price: just $699, versus the Titan X’s list price of $1,200. Nvidia calls it this new card its “Ultimate GeForce,” and judging by the specs, that does not seem like hyperbole.

Before we get too deep into the weeds with our test card, let’s have a look at the specs of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, along with the 2016 Pascal Titan X that it is based on, and the GeForce GTX 1080 it supplants as the gamer's flagship card...

As you can see from the chart, there are very few core differences between the 2016 version of the Nvidia Titan X and the new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, but some substantial improvements compared to the GTX 1080. Though the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is expected to perform better than the GTX 1080, the relatively small changes compared to the Titan X are a deviation from standard operating procedure for Nvidia.

In the past, Nvidia has generally given the Ti variants of its cards a small nip-and-tuck compared to the Titan, in order to still leave the Titan an advantage, albeit a small one. This time around, however, Nvidia made those small changes, but it is claiming that it made the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti faster than the Titan X by snipping in some areas and boosting performance in others.

To understand how this is possible, let’s take a look at the differences between the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and the Titan X. (It won’t take long, promise.)

The Basics: A Look at the GTX 1080 Ti Specs

First off, the biggest difference between the GTX 1080 Ti and both the Titan X and the GTX 1080 is in the GTX 1080 Ti’s memory subsystem. Rather than employing the same 10Gbps GDDR5X memory that it used in both of those previous graphics cards, with the GTX 1080 Ti Nvidia has upgraded it to a faster connection that runs at 11Gbps. (We won't insert-joke-here about something "going to 11"; Nvidia already did that in its initial presentation materials for this card.)

This is a big deal. More memory bandwidth is important, since the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti has a narrower memory bus compared to the Titan X's, at 352-bit versus 384-bit. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti’s bus is still much wider than the GTX 1080’s comparatively narrower 256-bit bus, however.

Also worth noting: For the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, Nvidia was able to narrow the bus but pump the data faster, bringing the two cards roughly neck-and-neck in the memory-bandwidth department. It’s also very interesting that Nvidia kept the CUDA core count the same between the two high-end GPUs, at 3,584. Typically, Nvidia reduces this figure somewhat when going from Titan to Ti.

The GTX 1080 Ti packs 11GB of this super-fast memory, which is an odd number. It's 1GB less than the 12GB on the 2016 Titan X but 3GB more than what’s on the GeForce GTX 1080. That’s a significant bump upward in memory for games, and according to Nvidia it should give the card enough headroom to run games at 5K resolution at maximum settings.

This effectively gives this GPU a longer shelf life, as most people aren’t even running games at 4K yet, much less 5K on the few available such panels. Panel availability could obviously change in the next two years or so, but even 4K remains the province of the gaming elite. It’s almost amazing that just one year ago, we thought 8GB of RAM on a video card was a lot, but now it’s not enough in some rarified high-end scenarios.

The only other small change from the 2016 Titan X is that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti has eight fewer ROPs (render output units). Having fewer can degrade performance, but since it’s only eight out of almost 90 total, it’s not a huge reduction.

Compared to the GeForce GTX 1080, though, almost everything has changed. Instead of using the GP104 chip in the former flagship, this GPU uses what’s affectionately called “Big Pascal,” which is the biggest die created by Nvidia for this generation of architecture. To understand the difference between GP104 and GP102, we simply have to look at the size of the die. While the GTX 1080’s GP104 is a decent-size chunk of silicon at 314mm squared, the GP102 powering the Titan X and GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is a whole different beast, at 417mm squared. It's also packing an additional 4.8 billion transistors, making it 66 percent larger in terms of transistor count. That’s a massive leap, making the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti not just a supercharged version of the GTX 1080, but a different chip/beast entirely.

Connections & Design

Other than the changes to the actual chip, the card we received for review should look familiar. It’s the same Nvidia Founders Edition design we saw with the GeForce GTX 1080. Since this card runs a bit hotter, though, due to the enlarged die, Nvidia did improve its cooling characteristics a bit.

First, it removed the DVI connector, then used that space to increase the size of the “airflow area” on the port backplane by a factor of two. This helps the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti run cooler and also quieter, since a cooler-running chip allows the fan to spin slower. Nvidia claims it's good for about a 5 degrees C difference.

The GTX 1080 Ti has a much larger die, which consumes more power than that of the GTX 1080, so clock speeds were set a bit lower to keep the thermals in check. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti runs at a boost clock of around 1.6GHz, compared to the 1.7GHz boost clock of the GTX 1080. That said, Nvidia is claiming the GTX 1080 Ti can still overclock quite nicely, going so far as to say it has seen cards hit over 2GHz. (It said the same thing about the GeForce GTX 1080 at launch.) This makes it seem like, despite its out-of-the-box clock-speed deficit, it should be able to reach similar clocks as its smaller sibling.

Despite the slower clocks, the larger silicon spread in the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti requires more power than the GTX 1080. So instead of just a single six-pin PCI Express connector, it has six-pin and eight-pin power plugs...

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti's body also features a removable backplate covering the rear of the main circuit board, similar to the one on the GeForce GTX 1080.

The remainder of the card presents no surprises. There's an SLI connector up along the top edge, to work with a second GTX 1080 Ti card (should you be so inclined)...

Officially, two cards is the limit to SLI these days, and that only with the upper-end Pascal cards. Otherwise, the bottom edge is the usual PCI Express x16 connector...

...and the card is the standard two-slot width of the current generation of Founders Edition cards....

Pricing & Versions

The GTX 1080 Ti will be available in both Founders Edition and “partner”-version boards from Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, and the other usual Nvidia suspects. The big difference this time around, compared to the GeForce GTX 1080 launch, is that the price will be the same for both versions. (With earlier Pascal cards, the Founders Edition exacted a premium.) Many consumers naturally will be more interested in the partner boards, since some will offer more advanced cooling setups, with two or three fans.

Alas, availability is going to be a similar story to before, at least in the near term. If you want a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti right at launch time, you’ll be limited to the Founders Edition, as these cards will launch first, with partner cards following shortly thereafter in the month of March (or so we hear).

As we mentioned earlier on, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti will be priced at $699, which is a surprise because, according to Nvidia's claims, it’s supposed to be faster than the $1,200 2016 Titan X. Our theory is that Nvidia kept the price low to put some strain on AMD, which is about to come to market with its own flagship GPU under the family code-name "Vega." Now that Nvidia has laid down its hand, AMD will be forced to beat it on price and performance, which seems like a difficult task.

It's interesting that the company pulled what looks like much the same maneuver with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which came out mere days before AMD’s much-anticipated AMD Radeon R9 Fury X. Nvidia certainly does like to pour buckets on AMD’s parade when it can, but then again, we have no idea what the Radeon camp has up its sleeve with Vega, timing-wise. So we’ll just have to wait and see.